Commercial Bank of Dubai wins Best Corporate/Government Prepaid Programme at the Prepaid Middle East Awards 2015

CBD’s Dubai Chamber Visa pre-paid card wins Best Corporate/Government Prepaid Programme

DUBAI, March 15, 2015: Commercial Bank of Dubai and Dubai Chamber’s co-branded Visa pre-paid card has received the Best Corporate/Government Prepaid Programme award at the Prepaid Middle East Awards 2015. The award recognizes the innovation and excellence that CBD has shown in developing cashless banking solutions.

The Prepaid Middle East Awards honour players in the cashless payment industry who have made significant contributions to the development of the sector.  

Malika Al Hashimi, Head of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships, Commercial Bank of Dubai, said: “We are delighted to receive the award for our partnership with Dubai Chamber as it underlines our continuous commitment to provide innovative electronic financial solutions to the community and our strategic partners. Our partnership with Dubai Chamber was a great success as it provided card holders with a convenient, secure and reliable method of payment allowing them to efficiently perform their transactions with Dubai Chamber.”

She added: “This initiative is also in line with CBD’s vision to facilitate the region’s shift to a cashless future and in line with the Bank’s commitment to support the UAE government’s e-initiatives. Aligned with this focus, CBD plans to further utilize cutting-edge technologies to enhance its cashless payment offering in addition to developing mobile applications that offer payment platforms”.

Essa Al Zaabi, Senior Vice-President, Institutional Support Sector, Dubai Chamber, said that the Chamber’s offering of smart, added-value and innovative e-services to the business community has boosted the customer confidence in its services over the years.

“Our teaming up with Commercial Bank of Dubai to offer an exclusive prepaid card is helping customers carry out commercial transactions quickly and efficiently while considerably reducing the serving time required per transaction. This partnership is also supporting our efforts to align our services with the Government’s e-initiatives while keeping pace with the global competitive environment by offering smart and innovative services to our stakeholders,” added Al Zaabi.

Customers can obtain the CBD-Dubai Chamber co-branded Visa pre-paid card by presenting an Emirates ID and a trade licence or copies of their Dubai Chamber membership certificate. The chip and pin technology in the card provides enhanced protection and security for customers. Following the launch of the co-branded Visa pre-paid card, the Dubai Chamber has stopped accepting cash payments as of April 1st, 2014.

Marcello Baricordi, General Manager UAE and Global Accounts Lead at Visa Inc. MENA, said: “We congratulate the Commercial Bank of Dubai and Dubai Chamber for their award-winning prepaid program. The CBD-Dubai Chamber Visa card is playing a key role in bringing cashless efficiencies to the largely untapped corporate segment in the region. The prepaid card offers a range of benefits to customers, including control over spending and transparency in payments, besides convenient and secure transactions guaranteed by Visa.  The efforts of financial clients such as CBD and the government in paving the way for greater prepaid card acceptance are truly commendable.”

This year’s award builds on the recognition CBD has received for its prepaid card offerings including ‘Industry Contributor of the Year’ award at the VRL Prepaid Middle East Awards 2013, for its prepaid initiative with Beit Al Khair Society. The Bank was also awarded the Afkhar Al Emarat (Emirates Ideas) Creativity Award for its Al Ahli prepaid card at the event.